Portland Trail Blazers point guard Damian Lillard drives to the basket against Dallas Mavericks power forward Dorian Finney-Smith. Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports

Trail Blazers star Damian Lillard expected to miss at least another week

By Chelena Goldman | Last updated 1/5/22

Portland Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard is expected to be sidelined for at least a week with lower abdominal tendinopathy, the team said on Wednesday.

Lillard, 31, sat out of Monday's game against the Atlanta Hawks and is expected to miss Portland's next three games against the Miami Heat, Cleveland Cavaliers and Sacramento Kings, which will all be played at home.

Head coach Chauncey Billups told reporters there is no immediate plan to keep Lillard out for an extended period of time and that he will be re-evaluated next week.

More Chauncey on potentially shutting Dame down: "I think that's probably going to be the route that we go if he doesn't get some kind of relief there."
— Sean Highkin (@highkin) January 5, 2022

The six-time All-Star first sustained the abdominal injury during the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo and played through it. He reaggravated the injury in November and missed five games.

Lillard is averaging 24.0 points per game, his lowest tally since the 2014-15 season.

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